Milk-bottle holder and lock.



M. G. RANDOLPH. MILK BOTTLE HOLDER AND LOCK.

APPLICATION FILED APR.15. 1909.

5?,712, Patented May 10,1910.

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MILK-BOTTLE HOLDER AND LOCK.

To all whom "it may concern:

Be it known that I, MARION C. RANDOLPH, citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of San Francisco and State of California, have invented new and useful Improvements in Milk-Bottle Holders and Locks, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to a device for holding bottles.

It is a frequent source of annoyance to householders and housekeepers to find their milk bottles stolen from the porch or other repository where the bottle is left by the milkman. I have devised a simple, cheap, practical device by which an ordinary milk bottle can be held and locked in position so that it cannot be stolen or removed by any unauthorized person.

The invention consists of the parts and the construction and combination of parts as hereinafter more fully described and claimed, having reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a perspective view of the invention as applied. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the device.

In the embodiment of the invention, I take a piece of stiff spring wire and bend it centrally into a loop 2 so that it can be sprung over the flange around the mouth of a bottle, as A, and grip the neck thereof, bending the ends 3 of the wire so they may be pressed together in parallel position to lock the bottle, or opened out to release the bottle, and providing the ends 3 with knobs or projections 4 which will prevent the withdrawal of this wire locking device from a hole 5 adapted to receive the knobbed ends 3 when the latter are pressed together. This hole 5 may be made in the ordinary door or wall, so that one end of the hole 5 will be open to the outside to allow the wire ends of the lock to be inserted, but the other end of this hole will be on the inside of the door, or otherwise protected or guarded against being reached from the outside. Preferably this hole is lined with a metal sleeve 6, and the outside of it faced with a covered washer 7 to give a neat outside appearance and prevent wind blowing into the room through the hole.

The length of the spring members 3 is ap- Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed April 15, 1909.

Patented May 10, 1910.

Serial No. 490,107.

proximately equal to the thickness of the door, or the length of the sleeve 6, so that when the members are pushed clear through the hole, with the bottle up against the door, represented at 8, the knob or stop members t will spring out and catch on the rear side of the door, and thereby prevent the spring locking device from being with drawn through the hole from the outside. However, any one from the inside can easily push the knobs or stops 4 together so that they can pass out through the sleeve 6, when the bottle and its holder are pulled away from the door.

The device itself is easily slipped on or off the neck of the bottle when the arms 3 are released from their holding sleeve, or hole in the door.

While I have spoken of this device as being attached to a door, it is manifest that it can be attached to any suitable support which offers the desired protection against tampering with the inside locking means of the holder.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is The combination with a bottle having a flanged neck portion, of a suitable support having a hole therethrough, a sleeve fitting in said hole, and a bottle lock comprising a piece of spring wire bent centrally to form a loop adapted to receive the neck of the bottle and grip the same when said loop is contracted, the ends of said loop extending in approximately parallel position and of a length suflicient to extend through said sleeve to a point a little beyond the same, said projecting portions having their extremities bent in reverse directions to form stops which engage the wall of the support surrounding the sleeve and prevent the withdrawal therefrom, said extending portions of the loop being compressible to allow the bent extremities to be passed through the sleeve.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand in presence of two subscribing witnesses.

MARION O. RANDOLPH. WVitnesses:

CHARLES A. PENFIELD, GRAcE B. GOULD. 

